Kiwi crime fighting startup takes out international competition

Kiwi crime fighting software firm Auror has been recognised on the international stage, beating out other startup businesses from around the world in a video competition.

The win gives Auror the chance to represent New Zealand at the 2017 SaaStr Annual conference in San Francisco.

The competition involved startups from around the world to submit 90-second videos to make the case on why their company should be selected to receive four VIP tickets to the conference and $5,000 in travel expenses, which were then voted on by the public and judged by a SaaStr panel.

Auror’s software platform helps businesses and police work together to prevent and solve crime in real-time.

According to Auror, its entry received nearly 800 votes, and was confirmed by judges as the top pick of the field through a blog post from the SaaStr team.

“We’re massively proud of the effort by our team and our incredibly supportive network of users, colleagues, friends and family to get so many votes and win the competition,” Phil Thomson, Auror CEO says.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to learn from the best startups in the world, and apply that knowledge to our own business.”

Thomson expects the SaaStr conference to be an ideal platform to get Auror into the international spotlight.

“The SaaStr Annual conference will be a great opportunity for us to connect with experts in growing and scaling a business, and invaluable for networking and marketing the work we do at Auror in the fight against crime,” Thomson explains.

“As one of the largest conferences in the world for software startup companies, this is a premier platform to gain visibility during an important period as we continue our growth overseas,” he says.

Thomson says Auror intends to use the opportunity at SaaStr to help refine the growth strategy for its cloud-based platform as the company continues to expand overseas.

“We’ve had excellent traction here in New Zealand and Australia, and we’re keen to continue our growth trajectory and target other overseas markets,” he explains.

“Crime is a global problem, so we think there’s enormous opportunity for Auror,” Thomson says.

“We’ll do New Zealand proud at SaaStr by showing that a small Kiwi company can take on a global problem—and win.”